Beauty, Eternity, Curiosity

Reading:  Ecclesiastes 3,4
My Verse:  "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also  has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds, yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

What a packed verse!  You, LORD God, do this throughout Your Word.  I marvel at how incredibly full each verse, passage in the Bible is - incredibly full of teaching, meaning, purport!  There is beauty in this world despite its fallen state.  There is eternity in our hearts that none, try as they may, can deny!  There is this persistent curiosity that drives us to strive to understand our world.  Beauty, eternity and curiosity are innate in each of us!

"He has made everything beautiful in its time."  Oh, LORD God, You are the Creator God.  You made all that is and You are the source of not only Love but Beauty!  Who can match the beauty of a field of wild flowers?  The colors, shapes and scents are matchless.

"And why are you worried about clothing?  Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these . . ." (Matthew 6:28).

Sadly, as Piper so eloquently states we are blinded by our rebellion to You, LORD God, to Your beauty.

I am often overwhelmed to the point of tears when I see something beautiful.  Seeing it and being able to appreciate it in my own limited way reminds me Who, You are LORD God.  It reminds me that despite the awfulness of mankind's sin and wretchedness You are still there.  You still love us enough to give us those reassuring glimpses of You in the beauty of a blossom, sunset, laughing child, ice crystals, snowflakes, mountains, still waters of a lake . . .   Calvin Miller stated, "God lives freest in those whose eyes are snagged by his beauty."

"He also has planted eternity in men's heart and minds"  I think this must be the most difficult thing atheists struggle with.  How does one deny that sense of foreverness embedded deep within our very souls?  There is within us a longing for something that just does not go away - no matter how one tries to deny it, cover it up, dull its constant ache.  There is an incredibly powerful desire within to give oneself fully and completely to "something!"  I believe this explains why so many desire to be a part of something as evil as the ISIS movement.  There is this desperate search for meaning to one's existence.  And, there You are LORD God telling us who You are. "I AM WHO I AM!" (Exodus 3:14). "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the LORD God, "Who is and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8)

Finally, you embedded within us that most wonderful thing called curiosity.  We want so much to understand our world - it is what keeps us inventing and creating and improving.  Thank You for that!  You don't allow us, even in our rebellion and denial of you to stagnate., for that would be the most awful dysfunction.

LORD God, thank You for beauty, eternity and curiosity!  Thank You for drawing us ever onward towards You and Your Truth!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Increased Knowledge, Increased Sorrow?

Reading:  Ecclesiastes 1, 2
My Verse:  "For in much wisdom is much vexation,
                        and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow" (Ecclesiastes 1:18).

This verse at first reading seems inaccurate!  Aren't we to seek knowledge and wisdom?  What is Solomon speaking here?  How is it that more wisdom and more knowledge leads to "much vexation" and "increases sorrow?"

The English Standard Version Bible has a footnote on this verse that states.  "Wisdom is a mixed blessing; to gain wisdom and understanding is to get a clearer view into the tragedies of life in a world marred by sin."

Also there are many kinds of wisdom and knowledge - some we want no part of because they are not of You, LORD God.  You warned us from the very beginning that we were not to partake of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil."

Again, I like how the ESV study notes explains this.

     "While God generously permitted the man to eat from every tree of the garden, God prohibited him from eating from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."  (The note goes on to say that by the eating of it they Adam and Eve would come to know good and evil by experience.)  Experience gained by "fearing the LORD" (Prov. 1:7) is wisdom, while that gained by disobeying God is slavery."

There are many good things to know and there are many bad things.  Some purport that all experiences are good for one - that one is broadened in one's understanding.  And yet, You LORD God, teach us throughout the Bible that we are to seek You and Your holy knowledge.  (James 1:5)  We are to avoid all that is evil - not of You, LORD God! (I Thessalonians 5:22)

The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde portrays this truth all too well.  All evil knowledge only destroys us.  It may not be obvious on the outside for a while but eventually, if we do not turn away from it, the visage begins to show the awful destructive work of evil knowledge.

I have even heard some ask, "How is one to know what is right?"  You are very clear about what is right in Your Word, LORD God.

     "The law of the LORD is perfect.
           reviving the soul;
     the testimony of the LORD is sure,
           making wise the simple;
     the precepts of the LORD are right,
           rejoicing the heart;
     the commandment of the LORD is pure,
          enlightening the eyes;
     the fear of the LORD is clean,
          enduring forever;
     the rules of the LORD are true,
          and righteous altogether.

     More to be desired are they than gold.
          even much fine gold;
     sweeter also than honey
          and drippings from the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:7-10).

Poor Solomon started off so incredibly well!  You, LORD God, blessed him beyond measure.  And yet, he made the pursuit of knowledge and experience his primary goal in life.  He did not discern between the kinds of experiences he delved into.  Many of the things he did were outrightly disobedient to You and Your precepts!

He finally came to realize that even wisdom, when it replaces you becomes destructive.  It is a mere chasing after the wind!  "So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it" (Ecclesiastes 2:17).

It is knowledge of You that we can never have too much of!  "Seek ye first the kingdom of God"(Matthew 6:33).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Do Him Good Not Harm!

Reading:  Proverbs 30, 31
My Verse:  "She does him good, and not harm,
                        all the days of her life" (Proverbs 31:12).

This last proverb has always been difficult for me, LORD God.  The standard is so high, always felt I could never attain it!  And yet I know it is a picture of what I am to be as a wife.  I pray, LORD God, that I will daily make this my goal - "to do him good and not harm."

This truly is a beautiful thing if one can get past one's own personal ego, one's own neediness!
After all, You, LORD God are love.   You love us way beyond our understanding! (John 3:16)
You love us even before we know to love You! (Romans 5:8)

C.S Lewis wrote a most wonderful book on love.  He speaks of how, yes, love can be a dangerous thing, we can get hurt but, by loving - "We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armor."

Lewis speaks of how we cannot depend on feelings alone.

     "Affection produces happiness if - and only if - there is common sense and give and take and "decency."  In other words, only if something more, and other, than Affection is added.  The mere feeling is not enough.  You need "common sense," that is, reason.   You need "give and take"; that is, you need justice, continually stimulating mere Affection when it fades and restraining it when it forgets or would defy the art of love.  You need "decency."  There is no disguising the fact that this means goodness; patience, self-denial, humility, and the continual intervention of a far higher sort of love than Affection, in itself, can ever be.  . . . If we try to live by Affection alone, Affection will "go bad on us."

Lewis also in this same book points out an all important point on love.  Yes, we are to do that person "good, and not harm."  But we must do this in such a way as it is not overt.  "The real work must be, of all our works, the most secret."

Dag Hammarskjold in his book Markings speaks to this most beautifully.

"When you have reached the point where you no longer expect a response, you will at last be able to give in such a way that the other is able to receive, and be grateful.  When Love has matured and, through a dissolution of the self into light, become a radiance, then shall the Lover be liberated from dependence upon the Beloved, and the Beloved also be made perfect by being liberated from the Lover."

There is no question that to truly love one must die to one's self.  We are unable to do this fully without help.  And so Lewis states that because God is love, it is He that enables us to love.  All love is Gift-love.

I like this verse.  Thank You, LORD God for the gift of love and for the guidance You provide in Your Word and  in the writings of believing scholars to help us along this path.

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Lying Destroys Us!

Reading:  Proverbs 28, 29
My Verse:  "Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered.
                        but he who is crooked in his ways will suddenly fall"
                                                                               (Proverbs 28:18).

This verse speaks to me of the truth of You, LORD God.  It speaks to me of the fact that You created us in Your own image. (Genesis 1:27)

This verse tells me that lying is not something meant for me.  It tells me that lying is destructive to my very being.  Not only does the act of lying pierce my conscious but it drains away the very energy from my physical body, it eats away at my soul.  Humans were simply not meant to lie, because we are created in Your holy image!

Lying is the complete opposite of You.  Lying is the very essence of our greatest enemy, Satan.  You, LORD God, spoke this truth to the Pharisees.

"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).

The very fact that a lie detector has been invented points to You, LORD God! A machine that can tell when a person is lying shows how our physical bodies do react adversely to the act of lying!

The dictionary states the a lie is "a deliberate attempt to deceive."  Some of its many synonyms include:  double-crossing, guileful, shifty, tricky, two-faced, unreliable, untruthful, and wrong!

You, LORD God teach us much about this awful act, which we tend to treat too lightly.

"The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death" ( Proverbs 21:6).

"Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I am only joking!" (Proverbs 26:18-19).

"You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another" (Leviticus 19:11).

"A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish" (Proverbs 19:9).

"No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes" (Psalm 101:7).

We think we are doing things in secret, hiding away our sins, but all is before You, LORD God.  And in the end all will become known.

"For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes" (Jeremiah 23:23)

"For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light"  (Luke 8:17).

Yes, unless we beg Your forgiveness for our lying like David did in Psalm 51 we will be required to give an accounting for all that we do in the end when we stand before You, LORD God! (Romans 14:12).

The wonderful thing here is that You can, will and desire to cleanse and heal us!

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Thank you, LORD God, that we do not need to live wretched, guilt ridden lives.  You love us and want us to live full abundant lives! (John 10:10)

I love Andrew Murray's prayer.

"LORD God, I thank Thee for these promises.  Thou gives not only forgiveness, but also cleansing.  As surely as forgiveness comes first, does cleansing follow for every one that desires it and believes.  LORD, let Thy word penetrate my heart, and let a divine cleansing from every sin that is forgiven me be the stable expectation of my soul."

Yes, lying destroys us but it doesn't need to - You, LORD God offer us a way out of that bondage!

Ditat Deus- God Enriches!

Boasting 0r Planning?

Proverbs 26, 27
My Verse:  "Do not boast about tomorrow,
                         for you do not know what a day may bring" (Proverbs 27:1).

When hearing someone speaking elaborate plans for their tomorrows, I find myself wondering at their confidence.  They speak with such assurance!  They speak as if there is no question that their plans will come to fruition.  Is this being boastful or is it simply planning ahead?

I have tended to be hesitant about my future.  I know that there are so many contingencies - and I cannot factor them in because I do not know what those contingencies will be.  And yet, I do know, LORD God, that You want me to look forward with confidence - confidence that You will lead and guide me in the way You will have me to go!  So is that hesitancy doubt?  Doubt in Your ability to see me through?  Forgive me my doubting heart!  You do teach so much about this in Your Word!

You tell us that we are to do things in an orderly and organized way - i.e. with a plan in mind.

     "Prepare your work outside;
           get everything ready for yourself in the field,
           and after that build your house" (Proverbs 24:27).

You also tell us that we should seek the counsel of others.

     "Without counsel plans fail,
           but with many advisers they succeed" (Proverbs 15:22).

But You also tell us not to be over confident.

     "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, "If the LORD wills, we will live and do this or that."  As it is, you boast in your arrogance.  All such boasting is evil" (James 4:13-16).

In reading all that You teach in Your Word, LORD God, I understand that I am not to be boastful, but I am to be mindful how I live - "not as unwise but as wise".

For You, LORD God do have plans for me.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope"(Jeremiah 29:11).

I need to live with confidence that You will lead and guide me. (Psalm 48:14)
I am to do my part by living intentionally for You, LORD God.  (2 Corinthians 3)
I am to trust You to get me back on track when I fail. (Psalm 46:1)

I can plan for my tomorrows with confidence if I do so with Your guidance, LORD God.  (Psalm 25:5)

I can plan for my tomorrows with confidence if I do so always with You ever before me in that planning.  (Psalm 59:10)

Finally, I can live with the assurance that You, LORD God keep all things together!  "And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17)!

My boasting can be in You as I plan and look forward to my tomorrows!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!